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Savills profits on wind farms
12.06.08
What property crisis? Upmarket estate agent Savills is to book a £17 million one-off profit on the sale of a collection of real estate of unknown value.
The London house-seller today sold a stake in a wind energy company which it freely admits has no wind farms and is producing no electricity.
Savills is selling its 50% of Infinergy to its joint venture partner Koop Holding, a Dutch engineering company, for a total of £23 million due over the next 18 months.
Savill's profit on the deal indicates it had already sunk £6 million into the business.
Infinergy is at the planning and development stage for six wind farms in Dorset, Lincolnshire and Cumbria and three in the Highlands.
Savills first hooked up with Koop when it advised the Dutch firm on planning issues laying fibre-optic cable around South-East England. The two signed an agreement to invest in wind farms in 2003.
"We are now at the stage where the business needs more capital and so it is a good time for us to sell," said Savills director Mark Dearsley.
